CHALLENGE

THE AGE
BARRIER
CHALLENGE THE AGE BARRIER
Remaining physically active
as we age can be a challenge
due to the increase in health
issues that cause bodily
decline as we get older.
However the ability to stay
active throughout life is
achievable, as long as early
intervention to offset health
issues is incorporated in to
our lifestyles.
In his latest White Paper about the benefits
of dairy protein, Fonterra Senior Nutritionist,
Aaron Fanning outlines the ways in which we can
consume protein regularly to aid prevention of
ageing implications, and therefore maintain the
desired active lifestyles we wish to enjoy in our
later years.
“The gradual loss of muscle, known as
sarcopenia, decreases the ability to keep active
and negatively impacts the quality of life.
Increasing the protein content in the diet can
help mitigate some of these body implications,
especially when consumed in conjunction with an
exercise program.” says Aaron.
WHITE PAPER: A FANNING –
DECEMBER 2016
Globally, there is a trend to ageing populations.
Led by the demographic changes in Germany and
Japan, the number of people over 60 years of age
will surpass two billion by 2050 (United Nations,
2015) with over half of these being found in
Asia. Enjoying a long active life is a goal of many
people globally. Unfortunately, with increasing
age comes increasing health issues due to the
declining capacity of the body, which tends to
occur from the fifth decade, including declining
heart, lung, bone and muscle function (Stein &
Moritz, 1999). The rate of decline, however, is
largely determined by lifestyle such as smoking,
alcohol consumption, physical activity and diet.
If the gradient of decline is too quick due to poor
lifestyle, it can result in unfavourable health and
wellbeing. Early intervention, or prevention,
enables maximal functional capacity, and greater
chance of avoiding impacts on health.
The loss of bone, known as osteoporosis, is a
well-known issue associated with ageing, where
the declining bone density increases the risk
of fracture, significantly impacting health and
overall quality of life. But alongside bone, muscle
is also declining, a less known issue known as
sarcopenia (Cruz-Jentoft et al, 2010).
Losing muscle decreases the ability to
keep active, impacts quality of life (Deer and
Volpi, 2015) and increases risk of diseases and
decreases longevity (Srikanthan & Karlamangla,
2014). However, there is hope. Increasing the
protein content in the diet can help mitigate
some of these losses (Houston et al, 2008),
especially when this higher protein is consumed
in conjunction with an exercise program.
CONSUMING PROTEIN TO MINIMISE
THE EFFECTS OF AGEING
Dietary protein achieves this by stimulating the
production of new protein. When we eat protein,
it gets broken down into its amino acid subunits,
and the amino acids are digested and distributed
around the body in the blood. The amino acids
act as anabolic agents stimulating muscle to
synthesise new muscle proteins (Bennet et al,
1989) by adequately stimulating muscle protein
synthesis (MPS) it will help protect muscle
mass over the course of the lifetime. This is
complemented by the known benefit of exercise,
which when performed in conjunction with higher
protein intake, there is a combined benefit of
improved muscle mass and strength in both
young and old (Cermak et al, 2012).
EVENLY DISTRIBUTING PROTEIN
INTAKE THROUGHOUT THE DAY
Recent recommendations indicate that it’s not
just the amount of protein that can impact
muscle maintenance, but also how we consume
protein across the day (Paddon-Jones &
Rasmussen, 2009). This is because MPS response
occurs through a dose dependant pathway, so a
small dose doesn’t stimulate MPS (Mitchell et al,
2016), but taking a suitably large dose of protein
(20-40g) will maximise the rate of MPS that will
occur after a meal (Pennings et al, 2012; Moore
et al, 2009; Witard et al, 2014; Macnaughton et
al, 2016; Yang et al, 2012; Robinson et al, 2013;
Symons et al, 2009).
There is not a lot of information around the
pattern of protein consumption across the day,
but what data exist indicate that a lot of people
have a skewed intake (Layman, 2009; Gillen et
al, 2016; Ruiz Valenzuela et al, 2013; de Castro et
al, 1997; Tieland et al, 2013), with little protein
consumed at breakfast, while most is consumed
at dinner. This is a situation commonly seen
in the modern western world where breakfast
might be a quick bite before heading to work,
while dinner has a large serving of meat. This
pattern of consumption may not be optimal, as
the low doses at breakfast and maybe even at
lunch do not result in an increase in MPS, and as
such the body will breakdown more tissue than it
builds with the end result being less muscle.
The new recommendation is to provide protein
more evenly across the day (Paddon-Jones &
Rasmussen, 2009), so each of the main meals
provides enough protein to optimise the MPS
response, and make the most of the protein
we are eating. By eating protein more evenly
across the day it improves the MPS response
after breakfast, as well as the overall day
MPS response (Mamerow et al, 2014). The
more frequent the consumption of suitably
high protein intakes per meal the greater
the association with lean mass and strength
(Loenneke et al, 2016).
However, the benefits for eating protein evenly
across the day is not just muscle maintenance,
but there is mounting evidence that balancing
protein across the day will improve measures
of satiety (Mamerow et al, 2012; , potentially
reducing food intake and helping with body
weight control (Rains et al, 2013). The risk of
being overweight or obese increases with age
(Ng et al, 2014), and the combined benefit of
maintaining muscle and decreasing fat means
that people can look leaner, and fitter.
DAIRY PROTEIN AS A NATURAL
SOLUTION
Due to its ability to provide a high quality dose of
protein, dairy protein is a natural fit to fortify foods
to help balance protein intake across the day.
Dairy is an excellent option for this due to its
ability to deliver;
1. High nutritional quality
Dairy is an excellent nutritional bundle, and the
protein from dairy is amongst the highest quality
protein available (Rutherfurd et al, 2015). Diary
protein contains all of the essential amino acids
required to be provided in the diet. Not only
that, but the amino acids from dairy are highly
digestible, meaning per gram of protein more
essential amino acids from dairy are available
than other protein ingredients such as soy.
2. Stimulation of muscle protein synthesis
Since dairy is an excellent source of essential
amino acids, it is also a great source of the key
amino acids that stimulate the MPS response.
Leucine, one of the branched chain amino acids
(valine and isoleucine are the other two) is the
key nutritional anabolic signal to the muscle,
stimulating MPS (Dodd & Tee, 2012). Dairy
provides high levels of bioavailable leucine, and
whey protein concentrated or isolated from
dairy is amongst the highest dietary sources of
leucine. This allows dairy to efficiently stimulate
MPS (Mitchell et al, 2016; Mitchell et al, 2015),
and does so to a greater extent than soy protein
(Yang et al, 2012; Wilkinson et al, 2007).
3. A functional protein suitable for inclusion in a
wide range of great tasting consumer products
A food is only useful for health if it is consumed,
and foods that do not have good taste or texture
are not as popular with consumers. Experience
with medical food, or oral nutritional supplements
(ONS), show that even when people know they are
needed to help with their treatment, they are not
consumed as recommended (Grass et al, 2015).
But fortifying common foods, while maintaining
palatability (Kremer et al, 2014) with higher levels
of protein can improve protein intake in those who
are already consuming ONS, helping meet their
protein needs and balance protein across the day
(Stelton et al, 2014; van Til et al, 2015).
In summary, dairy protein is a high quality
protein that can help stimulate muscle protein
synthesis and support muscle mass and strength
maintenance, helping to maintain health across
the lifespan as we age.

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